What next after Aadhaar gets SC nod despite judges acknowledging its flaws

In spite of agreeing that profiling undermines civil liberties and surveillance is unconstitutional, the judges reach the conclusion that neither is possible in the Aadhaar system

Last week, the Supreme Court of India upheld the controversial Unique Identity scheme or Aadhaar.

Following the second-longest hearing in the history of the Indian judiciary, the five-judge bench delivered a 1,448-page judgment more than seven years after the first legal challenge was issued against the scheme.

The system was also cited in an earlier constitutional challenge on privacy grounds. In July 2017, a nine-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the right to privacy of Indian citizens, but the ruling did not implicate Aadhaar.

Controversies around Aadhaar

First launched in 2009, the Aadhaar system gives each person a unique ID number